Glen Finnan Viaduct

Neil,

You asked how much I spent on mould making etc.

These are 2000 prices.

I spent £2.10 on the Silicone Rubber booklet

Then I spent £24.00 including carriage on 525 gms of T28 Silicone rubber plus T6, 5 kg of Basic Alpha Plaster and some calibrated beakers which are essential for mixing the rubber.

You can get similar materials from good art shops once you know what you are doing, but Alec Taranti was a great help, so I would go through him if I were you.

I have found an old photo of the partly constructed station.

York Model under construction

Colombo

Some really good ideas coming out here.
I made a viaduct which was about 41/2 feet long, so perhaps a little smaller than you're thinking of!
My construction technique was to use 2mm MDF for the sides and inner faces of the arches as it curves nicely and can be partly cut through on the reverse side to further improve curvature. The sides and track bed were all braced by using soft wood internal braces. Such as 2" x 1" or 3" x 1" timber. Once the basic shape was contoured the while thing was covered in Superquick brick paper, as this was what I had to hand at the time. The bridge looked great when viewed from a distance. Brick paper is ok, but a better effect can be obtained by using embossed card (Cardboard or Platicard) which would improve the look at close quarters. Alternatively, the sides etc can be covered in fine modelling clay (Das for example) available from most Art shops and while its still damp carved into a stone block effect with the aid of a pointed tool (Ground down old screwdriver for example).
If you choose to use MDF I would recommend coating the base model with varnish all over to protect the MDF from any ingress of damp which could 'blow out' the MDF sheets. MDF is readily available form most good DIY stores.

Hi Colombo,
you make it sound so easy! I'm really tempted to have a go. I have been purchasing a lot of skaledale stuff recently since I like the durability (and looks good), but I would love to have a go at this to create multiple archways etc. I'm particularily impressed by the pictures in your link which you posted a while back of your station terminus. The pillars and roof arches look very impressive. Did you also make moulds for these? How did you go about creating moulds for the pillars and manage to get uniform smoothness etc. Did you make them in half sections?
Is there a particular type of latex you use to create the moulds that is readily available?
I hadn't really considered it before, but with information like like, I think it would be good to have it all grouped under a new 'model builders' heading for quick reference. I'd love to see some photos of the mould making process..just to clarify use of Lego etc..!

Chenquin,

What a lot of questions at once.

OK, I should have expected this reaction, because I really enjoyed developing the process and I hope that you will too.

I shall have to take some photos of the mould making, no problem because I created a visual aid some time ago for the Club, I just have to photograph the bits.

As for the Columns, they should be tapered like those at York. {Would you believe that I have actually been to Corinth in Greece to see the original Corinthian Columns, now that is basic research! } I have used parallel sided brass tubes and cast the top and bottom inserts into the tubes separately. It was a bit hairy making the capitals with leaves out of thin aluminium , but if you don't look too closely I think I have got away with it.

The roof beams are cut out of 3 mm Birch Ply on a £70 electric scroll saw bought for the purpose. They were sprayed and rubbed smooth and sprayed and rubbed smooth and.....several times to get rid of the wood appearance.

I shall go away and think about how to present the moulding process.

Colombo

That station looks fantastic Colombo. I would be very interested to see the mould making process too if it's not too much of a pain in the arse. Sorry to add to the questions but do you have to add something to the rubber to get it to set? Thanks for all the information. I am a big fan of the Townstreet range but their prices are pretty high and if I can make similar stuff myself then this would be the go.

I'm very impressed Colombo what a wonderful technique. I'd love to see some more photo's.